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Ed Baird vaulted into fifth overall on the Swedish
Match Tour Championship Leaderboard with his come-from-behind
victory today at the 40th annual Congressional Cup.
After the race committee announced that the scheduled
best-of-three final was reduced to a single race
because the Sailing Instructions said no race could
be started after 1600, Baird defeated fellow American
Terry Hutchinson to win the Congressional Cup and
the symbolic Crimson Blazer.
Baird, at 46 the oldest competitor in the fleet,
was the only semifinalist among Hutchinson, New
Zealand's Gavin Brady and Australia's Peter Gilmour
who hadn't won the event's traditional Crimson Blazer.
Australian Peter Gilmour remains the overall leader
of the Tour’s Championship Leaderboard with 77 points.
He seemed destined to win his second Congressional
Cup title after winning the double round robin with
a 16-2 record, but fell afoul of an umpire’s decision
in the semifinals that halted his run.
Another potential winner, Gavin Brady and the Oracle
BMW Racing team, also couldn’t advance past the
semifinals. Tied 1-1 with Baird, they led down the
first run of their third and deciding match.
But Baird was able to get past them just before
the leeward mark and round in the lead. Brady then
was penalized for an incident coming out of the
mark which killed any hopes he had of moving to
the finals.
Brady, however, did improve his standing on the
Tour’s Championship Leaderboard. Placed seventh
overall coming into the event, his third place finish
added 15 points to his total of 30 and moved him
up to fourth overall.
The next event on the Swedish Match Tour is the
Toscana Elba Cup – Trofeo Locman, scheduled May
3-9 in Porto Azzurro, Elba, Italy.
Day 5 Results
Finals : Baird def. Hutchinson (1'41")
Petit Finals : Brady def. Gilmour (1'15")
Semifinals : Baird def. Brady (0'03'') - Hutchinson
def. Gilmour :(0'52'') - Brady def. Baird (1'04'')
- Gilmour def. Hutchinson (0'36'') - Baird def.
Brady (DNF) - Hutchinson def. Gilmour (DNF)
Flight 18 : Dickson def. Appleton (1'15'') - Harrap
def. Coutts (0'44'') - Hutchinson def. Rahm (1'04'')
- Gram-Hansen def. Baird (0'03'') - Gilmour def.
Brady (0'26'')ram-Hansen def. Baird (0'03'') - Gilmour
def. Brady (0'26'')
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